Since March of last year, the Australian state of Victoria has been rocked by a series of arsons and firebombings. Some of the targets are victims of extortion; others are caught in an escalating turf war between rival gangs. Two men with links to organized crime have been publicly murdered, one in a broad-daylight shooting at a shopping mall in a Melbourne suburb. Violent conflict is not unexpected in organized crime, but what is unusual is the drug at the center of this conflict: nicotine.
This tobacco turf war has been widely covered in Australian media but generally ignored elsewhere. In international public health discourse, Australia is often upheld as a model for mainstream tobacco control—lauded for its graphic warnings on cigarette packs, extremely high cigarette taxes, and strict prohibitions on e-cigarettes. Recent events, however, demonstrate how these policies can backfire.
